Shadows
by crazypandagirl
Summary: Kristiana Anderson has lost everything since the murder of her parents, and after the botched investigation by the FBI, she has been deemed a danger to society. Now that she's found a Navy officer murdered on her property, the investigation will turn on her once more, and will become even more harsh than the last, forcing her to even greater measures than before.
1. Chapter 1

No POV for the whole story

In the woods

Three girls, all high-schoolers and dressed in jeans and t-shirts for their hike through the woods.

The youngest and shortest, with black hair tied back in a high pony tail, whines at the next tallest and oldest, "Kristi, please let us take a breather! This is supposed to be relaxing, not a freaking workout!"

The oldest, a brunette with highlighted hair cut down at her shoulders, glares half-heartedly at her friend. "We need to find that camera, and those tracks, before the sun goes down, Soph. If you were going to whine about it, then you should've stayed back at my house like I told you to."

The last one, and the tallest with blonde hair in a low pony tail down to her waist sighs. "Guys, just drop it. Soph, you agreed to this, so you shouldn't be complaining."

Sophia, with an annoyed grumble, leans up against the nearest tree. "You guys are ganging up on me!"

"No, we're giving you a life lesson," Kristi growls, before turning around to walk almost silently down the path once more. "Stay there if you want, I'm gonna keep going. If you don't want to follow along, then follow the path back to my house. I have my phone and a weapon, so I'll be fine."

Without them following her, she travels on for another twenty minutes through the woods, following the path before she comes to a barbed wire fence, where a stench alerts her to something horribly wrong. Covering her nose and mouth with one hand, she pulls out her mother's nine millimeter handgun and takes another, more careful look at her surroundings. The coppery undertone is an unfamiliar one to her, but she can take a wild guess that it shouldn't be there, and then recalls a stench from the butcher shop.

Spying the old trash heap, with an unfamiliar brown stain that hadn't been there before, she pads over carefully, realizing the smell is getting stronger the closer she gets. When she gets within a few yards of the heap, she wants to be sick, but feels utterly numb, like always.

A body, dressed in a formal uniform, covered in blood several days old, eyes staring directly into hers, his throat slashed, lies there on her property. She pulls out her phone, and dials for the police.

"911, what's you're emergency?"

"I've found a body on my property, dressed in a navy uniform," she answers numbly.

Clicking on the other end alerts her to some sort of action taking place. "Alright, miss, what's your name and address, and where is the body?"

"My name is Kristiana Anderson, I live-"

A gasp from the operator interrupts her. "Miss, it's alright, we know where that is, authorities are on their way now. Is there anyone else with you?"

"Two of my friends, they are either farther back on the trail, or they went back to the house."

"Okay, just stay on the line with me," she orders Kristi.

At NCIS

Taking careful aim, Tony throws another paper ball at Bishop, deep in thought until his distraction. "DiNozzo!" she yells in frustration, sending a glare his way across the office.

He smiles in what he would call a 'winning' manner at her. "You were thinking too hard, Bishop."

She picks up the paper ball off her desk and throws it back at him. "Well, DiNozzo, I was thinking of a recently wrapped up case by the FBI, about a girl who was recently orphaned. It was just after her eighteenth birthday, and she was the prime suspect the entire time, did you know that?"

McGee perks up at the mention of the case. "You mean the Double Anderson Homicide that Fornell investigated last month?"

She nods. "That one. I just finished reading the news reports, and apparently the daughter had an alibi he hadn't been paying attention to the entire time. Apparently, she seems to be a bit detached from reality, almost like she's… the perfect psychopath. It's no wonder Fornell was so focused on her as the killer, I mean, just look at her picture," she comments as she puts up a picture on the plasma.

A girl with dark brown hair, highlighted with blonde, nearly white streaks, down to her shoulders, bangs nearly covering one of her eyes, a dark hazel, haunted and cold. Tony, rising out of his seat to look, gets a shiver simply looking at her. "Yeesh, I wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley without my sidearm. Girl looks like she could kill just with a glance."

Bishop glares at the back of his head. "Yeah, which makes it no wonder that Fornell made her the prime suspect of his investigation. Not to mention she had everything to gain, since she was an only child, and was conveniently eighteen just before the murders of her parents took place."

Gibbs walks into the squad room, flipping his phone shut as he passes between Bishop's and DiNozzo's desks. "Gear up, dead navy Lieutenant in Northern Virginia at the Anderson house," he informs them, pulling his gun out of his desk, and walking over to Bishop. "And Bishop?"

"Yeah Gibbs?" she asks as she grabs her bag.

He gives her a stern look. "She would give up all that she has now if she could have her parents back for even another day."

She stares at him, gaping open-mouthed for a moment, before realizing that the rest of the team is already at the elevator. Rushing to make it to join them, she stands next to Gibbs, staring at him again, as she notices Tony and McGee doing the same. "How do you know that, Boss?" McGee asks, although hesitant.

He glances around at each of them, then shakes his head. "Because when I interrogated her for Fornell, that's what she told me, multiple times."

"And you believe her?" Tony asks, incredulous. "There's no way."

"Well, DiNozzo, considering that the person came back and nearly killed her a few days later right in front of me, yeah, I believe her." He sighs as the elevator doors open. "And just so you know, you wouldn't even stand a chance in a fight against her, if it's to the death."

They all trade looks. "Is that from experience?" McGee finally asks.

Gibbs sets his shoulders stiffly. "I had to testify in her favor to prove that she fought and killed in self-defense against her parents' murderer for Fornell and to exonerate her. At least she'll be on familiar territory with me this time around."

Okay, rough start, but what the hey, I love the series, and wanted to get into writing for it. So here goes nothing!

I do not own NCIS.


	2. Chapter 2

When the team arrives at the Anderson house, they find the place surrounded by police cars at the top of the hill, isolated and surrounded by trees all around. A large yard, cut at the bottom of two hills by a creek, rises into more woods from which the driveway emerges.

"A perfect hideout," Bishop comments, looking around at the thick vegetation all around them. "Where was the body found again, Gibbs?"

"A trash pile she's been going through for the past three months," he answers tersely, speeding up the driveway when he sees the sheriff arguing with Kristi. He skids to a stop behind the large man, earning a small smirk from the girl and an unheard comment, before Gibbs jumps out of the dodge, and Ducky pulls up behind them in the truck. "Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." He looks behind him to find the others walking up behind him. "Special Agents McGee, DiNozzo, and Bishop, and our ME, Dr. Mallard."

In a light but somewhat bored voice, Kristi greets them, and gestures to the two girls sitting in foldout chairs in the open garage behind her. "I'm Kristiana Anderson, the short one is Sophia Jacobs, and the tall one is Annabelle Banks."

"Who found the body?" McGee asks, pulling out his PDA to take notes as Bishop goes to speak to the girls.

Kristi folds her arms over her chest. "I did, about two hours ago, but I think he's been there at least a few days, given the weather and the bloating."

Palmer narrows his eyes at her. "And how would you know that?" he asks, disdainful.

"I'll pretend you didn't just ask that, Palmer," Gibbs growls over his shoulder, before turning his attention to her again. "Kristi, could you lead us there?"

She nods turns to go inside. "Just let me grab a sweater and a flashlight, Gibbs," she calls back to him, before dashing into the garage, past a covered car and jumping, skipping all three steps and landing just on the top step, leaping inside and slamming the door behind her.

The agents unfamiliar with her antics stare after her, surprised that the unathletic looking girl put on such a display, while Gibbs shakes his head at their surprise. "She does that all the time, when there's a hurry and she's got the momentum."

Ducky gives his long-time friend a look, filled with worry. "Jethro, what is it that you're not sharing with us?" he asks. "Is there anything we ought to know?"

"No," he replies stoically, back tense at the query as the mentioned girl reappears, zipping up a sweater and carrying a heavy black flashlight. "Ready now, Kristi?"

She nods, gesturing to the side door of the garage, rather than the main door. "We can go out through this door, that way we can avoid the mess I still haven't gotten to." She leads them to the small backyard, encased by the trees once more, but with some orange tinted sky through the other side, and leads them to the left of the house, uphill before taking a sudden jump into the woods, over a downed tree and over brambles.

Sighing, Gibbs follows her example, before she pulls a plank of plywood off of the forest floor. "You couldn't have said you had that there sooner, could you?" he asks, rubbing his knee as he helps her maneuver it over the log to create an unstable bridge for the others.

She shrugs. "You were the one who jumped in right after me without waiting, Gibbs," she answers plainly, not in the least bit bothered by the light glare he gives her.

Tony and McGee trade looks of awe with Palmer and Ducky before they haul the gurney over the plywood, before crossing over themselves. Then, they follow their guide for half an hour through the darkening woods, following the path up and down hills, nearly losing the gurney as the trail goes alongside a steep drop towards the stream they saw earlier.

Kristi, eyeing the surroundings carefully, comes to a sudden stop. "Gibbs?" she whispers, barely able to be heard.

Her companions stop as well, following her example and staring around. Gibbs, however, goes straight for his weapon, drawing it and clicking off the safety as she smoothly crouches low to the ground, grabbing a large, solid branch. "What's bothering you?" he asks in the same volume.

She rises to her feet slowly, but remains slightly hunched over. "Someone has been here recently, and didn't follow the path," she informs them. She then touches the side of a tree next to her. "And I can tell you that somebody has been back here on four wheelers, without my permission."

McGee relaxes, moving his hand from his sidearm. "Really?" he asks in a loud voice, incredulous over the panic she's worked them into.

A twig snaps, alerting them to the presence of another just before the young woman whirls around, throwing her branch in a deadly arc towards a man in a black outfit, topped with a ski mask and a knife. He dodges out of the way, charging at her and tackling her. They roll over and over again, dangerously close to the slope before they stop, Kristi pinned under the man and struggling to keep the knife from slipping down precious centimeters into her throat.

The agents line up their shots, but know better than to take a shot, risking the knife plunging into her throat if they don't accidentally shoot her. They watch on in horror as Kristi spits in the man's face, making him recoil slightly in disgust, loosening his grip on the knife. In his shock, she takes the small advantage she's gained to knee him in the groin, and flip him over as she takes a hold of the knife, ripping it from his grasp. In a moment of blind panic and savagery, she plunges the knife into his throat multiple times, the blood spraying back at her to drip in tiny rivers down her pale cheeks.

"Kristi…?" Gibbs asks when she plunges the knife down a final time, concerned for her in her loss of iron control, and her labored breathing.

The call of her name pulls her out of her trance-like state, and blinking rapidly, she releases her grasp on the knife, holding her hands out and away from her as she stares at only some of the blood staining her skin and clothes. "Wh-what have I done…?" she asks in a horrified whisper, staring at her hands as they begin to shake. Her whole body trembles with the force of her terror, and she looks up to Gibbs as he slowly walks over to her. "Wh-what have I done…?" she asks again, eyes glassy with tears and horror.

Unmindful of the blood dripping from her, he pulls her up and away from the body of her attacker. "You fought back, that's all you did," he tries to reassure her.

She shakes her head as her lower lip trembles, her weak attempt to hold in her tears failing as one drips from her eye, carving a clean path down her cheek. "B-but I… I killed him… I didn't stop…" she whispers, shock settling into her mind and body as she starts shivering.

He pulls her over to a tree, sitting her down as Ducky grabs his medical bag from Jimmy, joining them at their spot away from the body. "Kristi, listen to me, he would have done the same to you. You didn't have a choice." When he gets no response beyond her silence, he turns to his long-time friend. "Duck, will she be okay?"

The Medical Examiner pulls out a thermal blanket and a packet of wet wipes from his bag. "She ought to be alright, but she needs to get back to her house, and remain under observation," he murmurs, wrapping the metallic sheet around her as Gibbs gets the packet open, knowing the blood all over her can't be good for her current mental state. "Jethro, I do believe Mr. Palmer will be able to take care of the sailor just fine with Anthony and Timothy here to offer their assistance."

Gibbs sighs and looks over to Tony, giving him a calculating look. "DiNozzo, follow the trail, and you should come across the trash pile anytime now," he orders his senior agent, before returning his full attention to the teen in front of him. "Kristi, I need you to look at me."

She does so after a moment, eyes still glassy but clear. "Am I in trouble?" she asks in a small voice as he gently brushes a white wipe over her cheek.

He shakes his head. "No, you're not. Come on," he groans as he pushes himself to his feet. "Let's get you back home, get you cleaned up."

She nods, and rises unsteadily to her feet. Seeing her instability, Gibbs rests a hand at the small of her back, offering the small amount of support and encouragement that she so desperately needs. Without further hesitation, he guides her and the medical examiner back to the house, the woods almost fully dark in the fast-approaching night.

I don't own NCIS


	3. Chapter 3

"You're gonna have to come in to NCIS to give an official statement, and go into protective custody," Gibbs informs Kristi as he hands her the mug of hot chocolate he had prepared for her.

She wraps her hands around the hot ceramic. "Okay," she whispers, before taking a small sip, hands still slightly shaking.

He sighs. "Kristi," he starts, "why were you in the woods today?" he asks, pulling out a notepad and a pencil.

She puts the mug down and stares at the dark wood of the table. "I had been hearing machinery in the woods, so I set up a camera a several days ago, close to where I thought I heard the noises coming from. It was near that trash pile, and there was nothing in the area when I was last there."

"Why were your friends here with you?" he pushes when she stops.

"They wanted to look through everything with me, and I figured the company would be a good idea. Just in case we found something of interest or I needed help with something, you know?" she asks, meeting his gaze for a second before fixing her gaze back on the table. "I only asked them if they could come over yesterday morning, and they got permission, but had to spend the night so that we could plan what to do once we got the camera after lunch. But we followed the wrong path just to see where we would wind up on the property, and got a little lost, so we had to find the stream to get back to the house. After that, it was getting to be later than we had been expecting, and Sophia started complaining about not having planned for a hike. She and Annabelle followed the path back to the house while I went on ahead, and when I got close to the trash pile, I could smell something off, and I knew that the smell didn't belong there, so I pulled out my mom's gun and kept going to find out what was making the smell." She shudders slightly, and takes another sip of her drink. "I thought it might just be an animal carcass, since it smelled a bit like a butcher shop, but… I didn't expect to find a body. I didn't think and just called the police."

He nods as he finishes his notes. "Alright, that's good enough for that part. Now, I need you to tell me how you saw your attack," he tells her as he flips the pad to a fresh page. "Take your time, and tell me everything you know."

She closes her eyes slowly, and frowns in concentration. "I heard some rustling when we were a few minutes into the woods, but I didn't think much of it since we were in a large group. But as we kept moving, I noticed the sound wasn't in time with our movements, and they were almost echoing, and getting closer rather than staying constant like everyone else." She clenches her hands and opens her eyes. "When I realized it wasn't any of your people, I stopped the group and went for a branch, since I didn't bring my gun back out with us, and I didn't want to alarm your group by pulling out my knife. I just remember that guy tackling me, and fighting back, and then… all that blood… and I just couldn't stop attacking him…" tears fill her eyes, trickling down her cheeks as she squeezes her eyes shut, as though trying to forget the image of the man under her, covered in his own blood.

He reaches out to rest a hand over hers. "Look at me," he orders her. She looks up after a moment of silence, and his icy eyes seem warmer than usual. "It's not your fault. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever told you to keep attacking if you think they can get back up to return the favor."

"But I still killed him!" she gasps, trying to stay calm but failing. "I didn't want to kill anyone ever again!" More tears fall from her eyes.

He sighs, rubbing his face tiredly before moving to crouch next to her seat. "Kristi, I would have acted if I thought I could take him out without harming you. All of us would have. You just defended yourself, and you are not in trouble."

As she nods in acknowledgement, Tony comes up behind Gibbs. "We've got everything taken care of in the woods, Boss."

"Good, ride back with Palmer and Ducky. Have Bishop and McGee take the car back."

Rather than asking the question on the tip of his tongue, he leaves the small eating area just off of the kitchen, going back through the room to the garage. As he closes the door behind him, he notices the two teens are no longer present, and the chairs they had occupied are now folded up with the rest of the lawn chairs next to a bulky grill.

"Bishop!" he calls out, not seeing her.

"Here Tony!" she calls from the back of the autopsy van, slamming a door shut.

"You and McGoo take the car back. I get to ride with Ducky and Palmer," he relays to her, before glancing back into the garage.

"How is Gibbs getting back to NCIS?" she asks, a frown of confusion forming.

"Didn't say, and I wasn't asking," he starts, "but I think he may be driving Miss Anderson's car back to the Navy Yard."

They all trade looks, before shaking their heads. "Think she can handle his driving?" McGee asks curiously as he takes the wheel of the sedan.

"I hope so, Tim," Bishop shrugs off her coat as he starts up the engine.

NCIS two hours later

Gibbs looks over at her in the passenger seat with a small frown as he parks her car, unable to believe that she could sleep with her head leaned so far back and to the side, while sitting upright. Shaking his head, he shakes her shoulder gently. "Kristi, we're here."

She blinks slowly, yawning and stretching before unclipping her seatbelt as he gets out, letting the cool night air rush into the car. As she steps out of the car, she glances around tiredly. "What time is it?"

Gibbs looks down at his watch slowly. "Twenty-hundred," he announces as she opens the back-seat door to grab her bookbag filled with her necessary belongings. "The team's probably got some food ordered by now."

She perks up at the mention of food. "Sounds good to me, Gibbs."


	4. Chapter 4

"So, we have a dead navy lieutenant left in a garbage pile in the middle of the woods, on the property of an innocent murder suspect from a recent investigation. On our way there, she's attacked and kills the attacker in front of us," Tony rambles as he sorts out the Chinese that was delivered just a moment ago. "Is it just me, or does there seem to be something fishy about this whole thing?"

Tim sighs in frustration. "I don't know Tony. If you're referring to the FBI case, then it's a dead end. The suspect was proven to be working alone, and he said as much when he tried to finish off the family."

"If you mean that our new killer might have had a target in mind, and the lieutenant was simply bait, then I'll agree with that," Bishop mumbles.

"Exactly!" Tony claims loudly. "But what if someone was watching what happened, and didn't expect the body to be found so soon? Or they didn't expect us to show up rather than some other agency?"

She rolls her eyes and gets up to walk over to Tony's desk, grabbing the box of chow mein. "How would they have watched us though? There was no internet access until just beyond the house limits, and we would have seen any cameras that might have been set up if that were the case."

"Meaning that maybe the killer was still present when Miss Anderson went into the woods, and couldn't get close enough without risking injury or death," Tim picks up on the train of thought.

"And maybe gets us nowhere, people," Gibbs interrupts the conversation, walking into the bull pen with a yawning teen on his heels. "DiNozzo, did you order anything for her?" he asks as he removes his gun and badge, tossing them carelessly into their drawer.

"Uh, played it safe with fried rice, Boss," he answers quickly, opening two boxes before finding the desired dish. "Fork or spoon?" he asks as he offers the food carefully.

She accepts his offering with a small smile. "Any chance of there being chopsticks?" she asks quietly.

Tony gapes as he offers the chopsticks to the girl. "You eat rice with chopsticks? How?"

"Practice, and sometimes a small mess," she answers, taunting him by taking the chopsticks and demonstrating without losing a grain of rice. "Use a rubber band if you don't know how to use them properly, but don't hold them too close to the bottom, or you'll have no control over the chopsticks."

McGee snickers at this as he grabs his box of lo mein. "Tony, you gonna let an eighteen-year-old walk all over you like that?"

"Shut it, McGiggle," Tony grumbles half-heartedly, before picking up the second box of lo mein and bringing it to Gibbs.

An elevator dings, and Abby comes trooping into the middle of the room. "Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs!" she chants excitedly. "I found something on the lieutenant's uniform!" She only then takes notice of the teen sitting on the floor in front of the plasma eating fried rice quietly. "Who's this?" she asks curiously.

"Someone who might have made the FBI's most hated list this year," said teen answers sarcastically as she looks up at the hyperactive goth. "Kristiana Anderson."

"Whoa!" she breathes, eyes wide. "I've been wanting to meet you since Fornell started complaining about you sticking to your story! I love it when the FBI can only complain about their own messes and botched investigations, and I have nothing to do with it!"

She gets a raised brow from the teen. "No offence meant, but I'm not sure if I should be taking that as an insult or a compliment."

Bishop laughs lightly at the remark, wondering how she ever thought the girl could be a psycho. "I think it's a compliment, Kristi."

McGee looks down to the side at her. "I agree with Bishop. We hack them all the time, usually when they won't tell us what we want to hear."

"Compliment," Gibbs says simply, clicking at his mouse as he drinks from a coffee they almost didn't notice he had. "What did you find, Abbs?" he asks, redirecting the conversation back to the investigation.

Abby refocuses easily enough. "I found a white powder stuck in the thread on the buttons of his shirt, and his dog tags were glowing when I hit them with luminol, and I found traces of human blood. I managed to scrape up a sample from the indents, and I've left Major Maspec running it now." She then turns to McGee. "What did you say our lieutenant's name was, McGee?"

He pulls up the profile, swallowing a mouthful of noodles as he does so. "Lieutenant Mason Lorenzo Nelson, twenty-nine, joined the Navy after graduating high school with honors in ROTC," Bishop lists off his basic information. Kristi sighs as she turns around to get a better look at the victim when he was alive, frowning. "Turns out he was orphaned in a car accident, and adopted by the doctor that treated him soon after. Has a clean record, not even a driving ticket to his name."

Abby frowns as she looks at his name. "That's not right…" she mutters, turning to Gibbs. "That's not the name on the dog tags. They weren't a military issued set, but identified him as a Kyle Rover."

Gibbs stares at Abby, before looking at the teen sitting on the floor, paler than she had been a minute ago. "That's the name of her parent's murderer, Abbs," he informs the lab tech slowly.

She gapes before looking down at the silent girl. "I thought that he worked alone in the end?" she asks.

"He was," Kristi answers angrily. "But it seems someone doesn't want to let this blow over." She meets Gibbs gaze carefully, and Bishop sees the first signs of that cold person in the newspaper picture. "Family, you think?" she asks.

The elevator dings loudly as she receives no answer, and footsteps stop beside Bishop's desk, who looks over to find a very, very angry Agent Fornell standing there, glaring down at Kristi. "What did you do this time? Murder a navy officer?" he spits out.

"No, I found him and killed an attacker, thank you very much," she bites back with venom dripping from her voice.

"Fornell! Gibbs!" Director Vance calls down from in front of MTAC. "My office, now!" he orders, before walking back to the privacy of his office himself.

The two agents glare at each other as Gibbs moves around his desk, and they all note that he tries to block Fornell's line of sight to Kristi, whose eyes practically glow with fury.

Vance's Office

The two agents refuse to make eye contact with one another as they stand in front of the NCIS Director's desk.

"What is the FBI's interest in our investigation, Agent Fornell?" Vance asks with a sigh. So much for getting home to the kids on time tonight.

"She's been a person of interest since I first interrogated her. She's lying about something, and I know for a fact she isn't mentally stable," he answers smugly.

Gibbs hand twitches at the comment as Vance takes his own turn to glare at the FBI agent. "Fornell, you forget the consequences of your investigation and her exoneration. You interrogated her for ten hours straight before bringing in Gibbs without providing the necessary drink or restroom break, then informed her entire family that she committed a crime that she did not, costing her every relative she had. You attempted to break an innocent person, and when she was released she was attacked and taken into protective custody by NCIS because you refused to keep an eye on your own suspect, followed by her being forced to kill the actual killer after hearing his confession." He rises angrily from his seat, sending it rolling backwards. "You failed to follow protocol, which led to her mental state being put into jeopardy, and she was already emotionally compromised by the loss of her parents."

"Tell me you aren't trying to pin something on her again?" Gibbs growls at his occasional friend.

"There is evidence that she was involved in a murder two days ago," he informs us, smirking.

The look Gibbs gives him wipes it off his face as fast as it appeared. "Then, as she is under NCIS protection, we will be taking over the case."

Vance grabs his desk phone, already dialing a number he had been thinking he might have to call as soon as Fornell stepped out of the elevator. "You will not be involved in this case due to an unknown personal issue with the witness. And I will be having words with your director about this."

He pales slightly, before turning away. "What do you have against Miss Anderson?" Gibbs asks quietly.

"I know she's not as innocent as she says she is. Haven't you seen that look in her eyes?"


	5. Chapter 5

Abby's Lab

Kristi settles into the tall, spinning chair as Abby types several commands into her computer, before turning her attention to the teen. "So, have you thought of what you want to do with your life?" she asks quietly.

The girl shakes her head. "I don't have many options anymore," she admits sadly.

"What? Why?" she asks in shock.

"Fornell got word out about what happened everywhere, and I lost my scholarships and acceptance to every college I applied to." She stares at her hands, clenched in her lap. "When I sent in new applications to different schools after I was proven innocent, they rejected me, and there was nothing about being waitlisted."

Abby wilts, heart filled with pity for her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…"

Kristi offers a fake smile. "I didn't really want to let the world know."

Blinking, Abby moves her own chair over and wraps the girl in a warm hug, one that's quickly and easily returned. "Do you want to at least help me out while you're here?" she offers as she pulls away.

The girl's depressed eyes light up. "Really?"

Abby grins, feeling particularly accomplished. "Yeah, come on. I have an extra lab coat in my office you can use."

"Not right now Abbs," Gibbs calls, almost running into the lab straight off the elevator. "Kristi, a word."

The girl nods and follows him back to the elevator with a frown. He presses the button for autopsy. The second the floor shifts, he flips the switch, stopping the elevator and turning to her with a frown of his own.

"Fornell said he has evidence you were involved in something two days ago," he informs her.

"What?" she asks, recoiling slightly in shock.

"Where were you two days ago at sixteen-hundred hours?" he asks quietly, already knowing she had nothing to do with it.

She blinks and looks down. "I was out getting groceries in town, at Walmart around then. I know I got there around three, and I didn't leave until almost four."

He nods slowly. "I had to ask, and I'll have to check."

She sighs, closing her eyes. "Fornell already ruined my life, and won't even apologize for it."

He looks at her sharply. "What're you talking about?"

"I can't even go to college because of him, and nobody will hire me because of his investigation," she admits quietly once more. "I just told Abby, and…"

"Why didn't you say anything?" he asks quietly.

She reaches over and flips the switch, setting the elevator back into motion. "I didn't want anyone's pity. And you already have enough to deal with."

"What happened?" he asks, stopping the elevator once again.

She glances up at him with empty eyes. "He took my family, then he took my chance at an education. He's taken almost everything that matters to me, and I can't even get a job." She turns on the elevator again.

They remain in silence another moment before the doors slide open, and Ducky stops short as he goes to enter. "Ah, Jethro, I was just on my way up to see Abby."

"We're heading back that way," he informs his friend shortly, frowning at Kristi.

Ducky then turns his attention to her. "Ah, Miss Anderson, how are you?" he asks gently.

"Could be better," she answers quietly, not meeting his gaze.

It makes the doctor frown. "Well, I do hope things get better for you soon, my dear."

"They won't," she mutters under her breath.

Three days later

Gibbs's House

She lays on her back in the middle of the boat frame taking up most of the space in the basement, eyes closed and breathing so gently she barely seems to breathe at all. Gibbs almost stops with a sudden fear that she isn't even alive as he walks in, but notices the slight twitching of her fingers to indicate she still lives.

"You know its rude to stare, right?" she asks quietly, not opening her eyes.

"It's rude to not greet someone when they come in," he shoots right back, earning a small smirk.

"Very true Gibbs," she replies, pulling herself upright and opening her eyes at last, and he notices the lacking life in them once more. "Except you don't really care about manners right now."

He comes down the stairs and moves to pour himself a drink. "Fornell's been benched for misconduct, and the other case he tried to pin on you was a drunk civilian a little too obsessed with what happened to your parents. The FBI Director is reaching out to the schools you applied to a few months ago to try fixing what Fornell did to you, and NCIS is going to back them until you're where you should've been."

She smiles absently. "They still won't trust me Gibbs."

"At least you'll still have a chance again," he informs her. "It's not gonna be easy… but I think you already know that."

"I can't do anything without this new case being closed still."

He sighs. "His family said he was obsessed to the point of possibly being an accomplice. We're still trying to figure out what he did before leaving a body in the woods and trying to kill you…"

"There's nothing else, is there?" she asks softly, knowingly.

He stares at her with worry in his icy eyes. "Everything says he worked alone."

She nods in understanding. "Director Vance is closing the case, isn't he?"

Gibbs winces, and sips at his bourbon. "Yeah, he is." Sighing, she scoots to the edge of the boat, barely sitting on the structure. "Protection detail is over; you're free to go home now."

She leaves silently, the only sounds she produces being those from picking up her things from the bedroom he cleaned up for her, and the door as she tries to close it silently. He stays in the basement for hours, ignoring his silent phone and the gut feeling telling him something's wrong with the whole case.

" _It was a drunk a little too obsessed with what happened to your parents."_

" _His family said he was obsessed."_

" _The killer admitted to working alone."_

He whips out his phone, speed dialing Tony. _"Hey Boss,"_ he answers cheerfully.

"You still in the office?" he asks quickly.

" _Yeah, I just put my report on your desk and was about to leave,"_ he answers easily.

"Are McGee and Bishop still there?"

" _Yeah, they're giving me funny looks now. What's up Boss?"_ he asks, sounding more worried by the second.

"Look over the statements from both Anderson cases again, and the one Fornell thought Kristi was involved in. Have McGee track her phone and monitor her communications. I want Bishop to question Fornell's suspect, and have her find out if this guy recognizes our dead guys," he orders his Senior Field Agent. "I'm on my way back, and tell Director Vance this case isn't closed yet."

As the call ends, Tony passes on their orders, groaning as he falls back into his seat. "Sometimes this job really sucks," he comments, picking up his desk phone and calling the Director.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning

NCIS

Bishop's name appears on Gibbs's phone as he pushes away another stack of useless statements. "Go, Bishop," he orders.

Out of breath as she runs to the car, she starts talking. _"Our suspect, James Peters, wasn't just obsessing over the Anderson murders, he wanted to copycat the fight Kristi had when she killed her parents' murderer. He admitted to knowing the sailor she found in the woods, and we was an old high school buddy of the guy that tried to kill her in front of us. When he found out his friend was going after her, he wanted to see if he could pull of a kill just like she did. Ducky told me she's ambidextrous, and used both hands, right?"_

"What's your point?" he snaps tiredly.

" _He said the man that killed our sailor is left-handed. The guy who tried killing Kristi was right-handed."_

"Name and description?" he asks, grabbing his sidearm and badge before storming to the elevator.

" _I sent it to Abby and McGee. I'm on my way to get Kristi now, I'm only an hour away from her house,"_ she informs him, the sound of an engine starting in the background.

"I'll meet you there," he growls, trying to get to his car as fast as he can, hanging up his phone before she can say anything else.

Anderson House

He brings the sedan to a screeching halt at the top of the driveway just behind the car Bishop took hours before, next to the blue highlander carefully parked at the edge of the driveway like it always is.

"Gibbs," Bishop gasps from her place on the floor of the living room, face red and hands covered in blood as she keeps them pressed against a wound to the unconscious Kristi's side. "The attacker ran a minute ago, he was going towards the trash pile," she informs him, before turning to the phone on the ground, screen lit up to show it's on speaker with emergency services. "I can't stop the bleeding, and she isn't waking up."

He storms from the house and charges into the woods, finding a blood trail, and footsteps trailing in a way to show the attacker has a significant limp. Sidearm in hand, he puts his sniper training to use once more to silently trail Kristi's possible murderer.

Bethesda later that night

A surgeon Gibbs doesn't bother to remember the name of steps out of the operating room, throwing the bloodied gloves and gown into a biohazard bag quietly before turning to the look at the federal agent. "She's stable, but still critical. If another half hour passed before you or your other agent arrived, she wouldn't have made it. She's lucky I remember her."

He stares at the doctor. "Remember her?"

He nods slowly, watching as his fellows wheel her to a private recovery area. "We went to the same elementary school, and I taught her how to read when she was in kindergarten while I was in fifth grade. We lost touch when she was moved to a public school a couple years later when I still went to private school, but she isn't someone you can forget."

"I think her extended family would like to think otherwise," he growls to the doctor.

The man raises his hands. "You can't choose who you're related to. I've been trying to reach her, but the FBI wouldn't help me reach her."

NCIS 

Interrogation

"Why did you try to murder Kristiana Anderson, Petty Officer… Lawrence Nealson?" Tony asks the scowling man across the table from him.

The pinched face under overgrown black brows, hair grown beyond regulation, with matching glaring black eyes meets his green eyes. "I know the bitch murdered her parents," he growls. "She had it comin' sooner or later."

Forcing himself to keep a straight face, Tony opens the file and produces a handful of statements. "These are all copies of the accounts of her alibi, which the FBI never followed up on because of her circumstances." He then slams a photo down of the dead Lieutenant down, followed by one of Kyle Rover, the recently identified would-be killer Carl Smith, and a currently locked up Chase Burns. "Kyle Rover murdered her parents while she was at a slumber party for her best friend, her phone records and dozens of pictures from the mother place her twenty minutes away from her house at the time of their murders, and her parents were out in the yard burning yard trash when it occurred that night, long after the kids passed out. Rover confessed when she was wired by NCIS as bait, and she was forced to defend herself." He points to the Lieutenant. "This man was murdered roughly a week ago and discovered five days ago on the family property months after the investigation was closed. Funny thing is, you filed a number of complaints against him based on harassment that he never had the time to perform. Another thing is, his killer was left-handed, and the wounds were created by a military-issued blade."

Bishop walks in with the knife in an evidence container. "Abby found Lieutenant Nelson's blood at the base of the blade, aside from the fresh blood from Miss Anderson. It's amazing that she found an uncontaminated sample of blood on a re-used blade for an attempted double-homicide, isn't it?"

"Indeed," Tony remarks, voice rising with false excitement. "And when she wakes up, she won't have any problems with identifying her only breathing attacker. Though I do still wonder how you know James… Peters, was it?"

"Yes," she remarks calmly. "I just got back from seeing Peters again an hour ago, and he had all kinds of stories to tell about the two of you. You were his best buddy in boot camp before he messed up and got kicked out, and he even told us about a certain meeting two weeks ago about getting rid of an innocent girl. The daughter of a Navy veteran who never did a thing to any of you."

Tony folds his hands over top of the file. "It doesn't matter what you say in here anymore, Petty Officer. Your own family admitted to your obsession over the double Anderson homicide, and told us how you refused to believe a minor was innocent."

"Look at the bitch," he growls at the two agents. "You don't see eyes like that unless she's got something bad in her. She's a killer."

"I thought that when I first saw her picture," Bishop confesses, taking the man by surprise. "But pictures don't always portray someone's personality. She told me privately that she feared the day she would bury her parents, because she didn't think she would have anyone there to help her cope. And she was in pain the day that picture was taken, and it wasn't happy with the circumstances of having it taken." She rises and pulls out her handcuffs. "You are under arrest for the murder of Lieutenant Nelson, the assault and attempted murder pending her survival of Kristiana Anderson, accomplice to an attempt to murder Kristiana Anderson, and for conspiracy to murder of a civilian. You have the right to remain silent…"

Bethesda

Gibbs is brushing her hair back from her eyes when they flutter open, glassy and unfocused. "Kristi?" he calls softly, sitting on the bed and holding her hand carefully.

"Ow," she groans.

Gibbs can't help the grin that nearly splits his face. "Welcome back," he greets her almost cheerfully.

She inhales shallowly as her eyes focus, before groaning in annoyance. "What happened?"

He frowns at her query. "What do you remember?" he asks with worry.

She blinks slowly at the ceiling. "I woke up and was gonna make ramen when I heard footsteps on the porch, like someone was trying to be quiet, but nobody walks on the porch without someone inside hearing no matter what." She opens her eyes and stares at him carefully. "The door was locked, and some guy picked the lock before I realized it wasn't a friendly visit. I tried to get to a gun, but he caught me when I tried sneaking through the living room to the stairs for my mom's shotgun in her closet upstairs. I just remember black eyes staring at me, and hearing something being cut, and my side hurt." Her eyes fall closed and stay that way. "I heard the phone ringing, and heard… Bishop yelling… sirens… I think there was a gunshot or something at one point."

"Bishop got to your house a few minutes before I did, spooked the guy into running into the woods. I went after him when I saw Bishop with you, and fired at the getaway car before I arrested the guy. Tony and Bishop charged him for a handful of offenses an hour ago." He rubs the back of her hand soothingly. "You're gonna be alright, the doctors already promised."

She smiles weakly at him. "Thank you."


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

Three Years Later

"Gibbs, tell the Director I don't want an intern!" Abby whines at him as he walks in with her Caf-Pow! In one hand and his coffee in the other.

He scoffs at that. "Abbs, you made it work the last time we all had interns."

"No! I prefer working alone in here because most of the people who get assigned to work with me try to kill me or all of us!" she continues to protest.

"Oh, come on Abbs. Give the kid a chance," he advises her. "You might be surprised."

"Did you even read the personnel file before rejecting the applicant?" Director Vance asks, stalking into the room with an amused smirk on his lips.

"Why would I, I know how it'll turn out in ninety-nine percent of all possible scenarios!" she complains.

Gibbs shares the Director's amusement, before picking up the file from the keyboard. "She's smart, top of her class and set to graduate next summer. She's got job offers for a dozen private labs, and clearance to work in a BSL four lab from a previous internship with the CDC this past winter, and a dozen glowing recommendations from everyone she's worked with." He then turns his smile into a smirk. "I think you'll like this kid a lot."

She crosses her arms and huffs. "What's her name?" she demands.

He offers the open folder, and her eyes widen as they land on the picture, before shifting slightly to the right. _Kristiana Anderson._


End file.
